His Obsession

A/N: Thank you all for hanging in there while life managed to throw me a dozen loops that kept me from posting. We all know how that goes... Anyway, excuses aside, I present to you the 5th installment of His Obsession. I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about this chapter. I wrote it all today and I'm not sure that I should be finished with it so quickly. Please review and let me know what you think. I'm still up in the air about this and would appreciate your thoughts.

Happy reading, and much love,
zairaphel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hermione sat quietly behind her desk, giving her full attention to the project at hand. It was the third potions lesson after their individual assignments had been issued. Hermione had, naturally, been the first on in with her ingredients collected, one day before they were required.

Normally, Snape would have found some way to take off house points for her over eager nature, but in this instance he was pleased. Not that he would ever let that show, though.

The rules had changed since the meeting with his Lord a little over a week ago. The little lioness was no longer to be the target of his wrath in his class, though that didn’t mean that he couldn’t take out his frustrations on Potter.

Snape would have to treat the little witch nearly as an equal. That thought didn’t bother him nearly as much as the thought of one day having to admit the witch as his superior. He had a terrible, sneaking suspicion that he would indeed see that day if he understood what his master had told him, and if he read between the lines a bit. But that was something he had always been good at…

He shook his head, quickly removing his thoughts from the disturbing path they were traveling. Stalking through the rows of desks he noted the progress some students were making, or in some cases, the lack of progress. He couldn’t help but smirk as he watched Harry Potter attempt to ready and ingredient.

“Mister Potter,” Snape hissed sharply as he looked over the boy’s shoulder. “Does this potion call for minced Banewort?”

“No, Sir, it calls for diced Banewort,” Harry replied through tightly gritted teeth. He couldn’t help but twitch slightly as the Slytherin half of the classroom could be heard snickering.

“Then I suggest, Mister Potter, that you start again with the Banewort. Dice it this time. Twenty points from Gryffindor for carelessness. Little errors like that add up. It’s often the little errors that kill, Potter. Do remember that.”

Harry managed to grind out a stiff, “Yes Sir,” before starting over with the ingredient.

Continuing through the rows Snape stopped to observe Hermione’s project. He could find no fault in her work and was pleased. It wouldn’t do to have her muck up something this important, this vital. Though he was quite certain that she would not fail him, he did not let his guard down. If there was one little tidbit of advice he took from that old joke Alastor Moody, it was “Constant Vigilance”. In a job like his, it was imperative. One did not become and remain a double spy by letting their guard down.

Hermione glanced up at the professor as he stared down at her work, waiting for the criticism that almost always came next. The rest of the class was watching with bated breath as well, just waiting for her to be dressed down. After all, everyone knew that once Snape had taken points from Potter, Hermione was twice as likely to be docked, just for amusements sake.

“Passable,” Snape said with a very slight nod before moving on. It was the first time Hermione could recall that he neither ignored her, criticized her, or removed points for a flaw. Coming from him, she felt that this might have been as close to a compliment as she would ever get.

Hermione couldn’t help but smile as she returned to her work. “Perhaps this is the start of something good for me- finally.”

------------------------ --------------- -----------------

That evening Harry and Hermione sat together in the common room, Hermione tutoring Harry with his Arithmancy.

Harry sighed and looked up from his book, “Snape’s such a git. I can’t believe he called me out like that!”

Hermione had been waiting for Harry to start whinging about the potions lesson. He always complained when Snape had something negative to say to him.

“Listen, I know you’re upset Harry, but Snape was right… The little mistakes do compound fast. Who knows what could have happened! Sometimes it only takes one small mistake and BAM! I mean, you must remember the time Neville added shredded Pukeweed to a potion instead of having sliced it into strips. He blew up his cauldron and wound up in the hospital wing for nearly a week with festering boils.

Snape said that these assignments will play to our strengths, but doubly so to our weaknesses. You know that your weakness has always been a lack of attention to the finer points. You’ve said so yourself. Just look at this project as an opportunity to better yourself, and think of how it will feel when you complete it correctly. You’ll feel on top of the world, and Snape can’t take that from you.”

Harry gave Hermione a grateful smile. “Yeah, you’re right, ‘Mione. I’m going to get this right and show that greasy git I can handle whatever he dishes out.”

“I know you will,” Hermione said with an encouraging smile, choosing to ignore the slight against their professor.

After a few minutes of quiet Harry looked up again. “Um, ‘Mione? You still haven’t talked to Ron, have you?”

“No, I haven’t spoken to him since our little disagreement the other night.”

“Listen, I think you should. I mean, it’s obvious he wants to talk to you, but you know how stubborn he can be. He’s been staring at you with those “longing, puppy dog eyes” since after he cooled down. Why don’t you be the “bigger person”, so to speak, and go try to sort this out? It’s going to a hell of a lot longer if you wait for him to come to you. We both know it. And you know that I hate seeing my two best friends at odds like this,” Harry said softly, his eyes pleading with her.

Hermione sighed as she began to pack up her homework, “Alright. I’ve got to go make a few additions to my potion’s project in about twenty minutes. This thing has me running at all hours, but hey, I’m Head Girl. But anyway, I’ll try to talk to Ron about this whole mess before I leave.”

Taking a deep breath, Hermione slung her book bag over her shoulder and walked to the back of the common room where Ron was sitting in front of a one-sided game of wizard’s chess.

“Hello, Ron,” Hermione said softly.

Ron smiled for a second before schooling his face into a moderately neutral expression.

“Have you come to apologize?” he asked.

“What on earth do I have to be sorry for?”

“Oh, so you haven’t come crawling back because you’ve finally seen things my way?” Ron asked. It was clear he was trying to sound superior, but one could clearly hear the desperation in his voice.

“I most certainly have not!” Hermione shouted. “I came hoping to salvage our friendship! Hoping that you would see that I couldn’t be happy with the life you have planned. I need to be my own person, Ronald, not just someone’s wife, mother, and broodmare. You want me to be just like your mother! She’s a fine woman, Ronald, but I’m just not cut out for that life.

I crave knowledge, and I need adventure! I need a man who will understand that and give those things to me. I need a man who will encourage and fuel my growth and potential. That is the only sort of man I would want a future with, and the only sort of man I would consider a marriage and family with.

Until you see that, I’m not sure we should be spending time together! I want to be your friend, Ronald, but not if it means you’re constantly trying to get me to conform to what you want. I think I would break if forced into a mold I was never meant for... If you value our friendship at all, you will think long and hard about what I’ve just said.

Now, I have other things to attend to. Ronald. Goodnight, Harry. Don’t wait up,” Hermione said before slipping through the portrait hole.

Harry sighed as he walked over and sat down across from Ron. He really hoped his redheaded friend wouldn’t insist on being right, but alas…

“Can you believe her? She can’t talk to me like that! I’m her boyfriend!” Ron growled.

“She can, and she did, mate. And I think, from the sound of it, you’re not really her boyfriend anymore either. I don’t think a girl would keep a bloke after something like that.”

“She can’t throw me over! She needs me! Without me she’ll be some lonely spinster with a houseful of nasty little cats, muttering about the desk job she had to take. What man would want that? Bloody hell, I don’t see men fighting for her now! She needs me!”

Harry looked wide-eyed at Ron. “I can’t believe you, mate. You’re being a right prick! I don’t blame Hermione at all for calling it quits. You can be a really good friend, Ron. But right now, you’re not a good friend. You were being even worse before to Hermione. Downright cruel. I think you need to take a good look at the person you’re becoming, because it’s not pretty.”

------- -------- -------- --------- ------- --------

Hermione tried to calm herself on the way to the dungeons, but all she could feel was the heated rage from her argument with Ron. She had never considered herself capable of such deep loathing as she felt that very minute.

She made a vague attempt to think things through, to get rid of the anger rationally, but it simply wouldn’t leave. She could feel it pulsing through her veins, heating her better than any Christmas brandy ever could.

By the time Hermione got to the potions classroom she was consumed by her emotions. Throwing the door open, she walked in and dropped her book bag on her desk, seemingly oblivious to the world around her.

Snape’s head snapped up from his desk. He was about to admonish Hermione for throwing the door open without so much as a knock, but he stopped short the moment he got a look at her.

The little witch was positively crackling with magic, so much so that he could see it in the air; there were little streaks of slivery blue that crackled around her like lightning in the night sky. He watched as the magic increased slightly as her eyes went dark and glossy.

“Miss Granger,” Snape said with caution, attempting to catch her attention. However, she did not look, she just continued to stare.

“Miss Granger,” he said again, this time loud and sharp as though lecturing.

This time Hermione’s head snapped in his direction, though her eyes did not set completely on him.

“Then you can hear me, Miss Granger?”

She gave one sharp nod, her magic still surrounding her.

“You need to let go of your anger. Calm yourself, Witch. Let go of your emotion. If you do not, you are set for destruction.” Snape didn’t care to think what she could manage to destroy with the amount of magic that was building up.

“Breath and let go,” he repeated, talking calmly as though he were trying to talk someone off a window ledge.

He watched the air slowly return to normal. The little silvery blue crackles of her magic were being absorbed back into herself and nature.

Hermione blinked a few times and took a great, shuddering breath of air. “Professor?” she asked, her voice quavering, telling him that she had no idea what had just transpired.

“Work on your potion, Miss Granger. I need to speak with you when your are finished this evening.”

After a few moments of deep breathing, Hermione cleared her mind of the cobwebs and set to work. Tonight all she had to do was add the Alligator pear, cut into thin strips, and then let it simmer for 15 minutes until the potion turned a pretty shade of pastel green. It didn’t take her too long to get things in order and to get the potion to its next stage. She smiled as she cast a spell over it to protect from tampering. One could never be too careful.

Carefully Hermione packed up her supplies and slid her book bag over her shoulder, indicating that she was finished for the night.

“My office, Miss Granger,” Snape said as walked, Hermione following him in.

“Have a seat,” he said as he sat down in the large chair behind his desk.

Hermione sighed as she sat down, carefully placing her book bag beside her before folding her hands in her lap.

“Just what did you wish to see me about, Sir?”

Snape sighed and furrowed his brow, trying to figure out just where to start. “Miss Granger… Are you aware of the state you were in when you arrived here this evening?”

Hermione frowned. “I’m not entirely sure just what you mean, Sir. ‘The state I was in’?”

“I believe something happened to make you extremely emotional or upset… to the point where your magic was beginning to manifest itself physically, visually. Had I been unable to calm you down I think things would not have ended well. There have been cases where things like this have happened, but without intervention. Buildings have crumbled and people have died from the great surge of magic that is released.

I truly do hate becoming involved in a student’s problems, but this time I feel it quite necessary. What got you so worked up, Miss Granger?”

Hermione sighed. She knew quite well what had upset her, but she wasn’t sure that she wanted to say, though she knew she needed to get it off her chest… Raising her eyes to meet his, she took a deep breath pushing the memory to the forefront of her mind, “See for yourself.”

Snape was honestly surprised that she would grant him entry to her mind a second time. A time in which she was definitely more level headed and less emotional than the first. It occurred to him that she must honestly trust him. She truly trusted him. Silly witch.

Within a moment he was inside her mind, watching the scene play out. Her talk with Harry. Her argument with Ron. Her walk down to the dungeons when she was making a small attempt to calm herself. He saw it all and withdrew, hiding a smile over the dressing down she gave Ronald Weasley.

“I see… And I take it this has never happened before?”

“Well, I don’t think so…” Hermione hesitated for a moment before starting again. "Though the other day after Harry and I had practiced dueling he told me he thought he had seen magic around me. But he thought I was drawing magic from outside me and pulling it in. Maybe I wasn’t taking it in, but letting it flow out?”

Snape was silent for a few moments as he thought about what the witch had said. He stood for a moment, taking an item from the bookcase behind him. Setting it on the desk in front of Hermione, she recognized it as a small pensieve.

“Miss Granger, I would like to see that memory, if you would be willing to share it. We both know that things can be noticed when viewing it through a pensieve that would often be missed when the event occurred and also possibly during legilimency.”

“Of course… It would be interesting to see things from a different angle.” Hermione laughed slightly. “Or in some cases to see things at all,” she said as she placed her wand to her temple and concentrated deeply before pulling out a long silvery string of memory and placed it into the pensieve.

Before Snape could ask her about her last remark, Hermione had lowered her head to bowl and was pulled in. He had no choice but to follow quickly, landing beside the petite witch as she watched herself and Harry Potter enter the Room of Requirement.

They both watched in silence as the memory Hermione turned the room into a little dueling arena and took a few practice swishes with her wand as she went over the ground rules. Harry asking her if she was certain she wanted this duel before she counted off the ten paces. It seemed to them that Harry was almost certain he was going to hurt the little witch with this “no holding back” dueling.

Hermione and Snape both watched wide-eyed as her memory played out in front of them. It was clear that a change had come over Hermione at some point during the duel, and Harry Potter was right. There was a point where you could see the magic gathering around her, being drawn into her body from the air itself. Her eyes glazed slightly as she cast spells with great intensity, though her eyes were not the dark, nearly black of earlier when she had arrived in his classroom. In the memory her eyes were a crystalline amber, and he was certain he could see little black flecks shining in them.

Her moves were amazing as she dueled, and Snape couldn’t help but think that the best part of it all was when Harry Potter when flying through the air only to land flat on his arse.

Both Hermione and Snape were thrown out of the pensieve and back into the chairs they had occupied only moments ago.

After a few moments of silence Hermione spoke. “So, what do you think?”

“Honestly, Miss Granger, it was quite impressive. Though I would like to know what you meant when you said ‘or to see things at all’.”

“Well, you see… I reached this point and kind of ‘let go’, and I tried to feel the magic. Then I came to this point where I couldn't see anything. Everything went white, but I continued to cast and move. It's a wonder I managed not to get hit with one of your curses... It was like the magic enveloped me. I felt as though I could move the heavens with a single thought. It was the most amazing feeling I've ever had. Then nothing. I was standing still, and Harry was on the ground. I know it sounds rather crazy, but that’s what happened," Hermione explained carefully.

Snape was quite happy he had chosen to view the memory through a pensieve as opposed to viewing it in her mind. Seeing nothing but glowing white for a while would have been anything but helpful.

“I believe I have a few ideas about what transpired then. I need to do some research, but I believe I can have answers for you in just a few short days,” Snape said smoothly. In truth, he had more than just a few ideas about what had occurred during those few short minutes than he was willing to let on. In fact, he was fairly certain he knew what had occurred, but he wasn’t about to share that with the witch just yet.

“Oh that’s wonderful, Professor!” Hermione exclaimed. “Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you with this. I can’t tell you how curious I am to know just what went on.”

“Actually there is one thing you could do for me. Would you be agreeable to my keeping this memory for a while longer? I should like to view it a few more times to see if I have missed anything else. It would be returned to you when I am finished with it, of course.”

“Yes, Professor, of course. I trust you with it. Keep it as long as you need.”

“Thank you, Miss Granger. Now, it is getting rather late. You should return to your dormitory. And do remember, it is imperative that you try not to let your emotions get the best of you. At times like that it would be easier if you acted like a normal, silly girl, and went to have a good cry over things.

Hermione smirked as she stood, sliding her book bag over her shoulder. There was the tactless man she was familiar with. “I shall take that into consideration, Sir,” she said as she walked to the door. “Oh, and thank you,” she said with a slight smile before she closed it behind her.

As soon as the door was shut Snape warded it tightly and let a feral grin slide across his features. The little witch was so very easy to work with. Much like Dumbledore, her great trust would be a downfall. And her downfall would be his Lord’s gain.

Snape was practically humming over his good fortune to have seen all he had that night. With a quick flick of his wand he minimized the pensieve before carefully placing it in his pocket. Grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill, he penned a short note.


My Lord,

I must see you. There is much to tell.

Ever your servant,
S.S.


He made sure to enchant the note so that should anyone but it’s intended recipient touch it, it would explode. Again, one could never be too careful in his line of work.

Quickly he tied the missive to his familiar and sent it out. He smiled as he watched the raven take wing. It would only be a matter of time now before he felt the familiar burn that would take him to the Dark Lord’s side.